Molson Coors will relocate its headquarters from Denver to Chicago, part of a general restructuring and retrenchment by the world’s second-biggest brewer.
The move will make the company’s existing Chicago offices its worldwide headquarters. Chicago already is home to MillerCoors, the part of Molson Coors that makes and markets all of its brands in the U.S. and accounts for most of its income.
The move, which will shut down the Denver office, will cut up to 500 jobs and save Molson Coors an estimated $150 million annually. It’s part of Molson Coors’ attempt to deal with a long general decline in sales of mainstream beer in favor of craft or premium brews, or alternatives such as hard seltzer.
Molson Coors is making other adjustments under the leadership of Gavin Hattersley, former head of MillerCoors, who took over as CEO a month ago. It is changing its name from Molson Coors Brewing Co. to Molson Coors Beverage Co., a signal that it will place more emphasis on products other than beer, and is reducing the number of units from four to two, covering North America and Europe.
